Can anyone point me to a good source for ceiling speaker placement? Help is greatly appreciated!! I'm sure your kindness will be rewarded in some manner ;-) I need help with two scenarios, each in a different room. I am having the home pre-wired and want to be sure to drop the lines in reasonable spots.
Living Room - At this point I am planning Fronts about 2' in front of the television (ceiling) and the rears about 2' behind the listener (ceiling). These four will be in a square pattern. Sub will be hidden in media niche and center will set-top. Am I on the right track? Do most ceiling speakers allow me to angle direction?
Bedroom - Vaulted Ceiling! Rear will be in the far rear corners of the room, on the angled vaulted ceiling. Should give me fairly good aim at the listener. Fronts will be about 2' in front of projection surface, also in the slanted vaulted ceiling, but about 2-3' closer together than rears (hope you can visualize). Center will be a) on top of the plant shelf, about front speaker height b) wall mounted above the projection surface (about 7 1/2'). Any ideas on the this? Sub will be hidden on plant shelf which should provide decent sound.
So, all of this is based on my amatuer knowledge. Please provide your wisdom and poke holes in my plans. Thanks!
Justin, I'm not here to give much advice but I have been in the market. I to am having my house built and the speaker wire prestrung for surround (family rooms) and standard stereo (bedrooms).
What I do know is that you'll want directional ceiling speakers if you need to go that route. They are speakers that mount flush into the cieling but rotation for the tweeter so you can direct the sound back at the users.
I don't know your budget but I would recomend Sonance speakers. I'm considering their in wall speakers. They have enclosurers on the back of all their units (that I've seen), directional tweeters and a wide variety of sizes ranging from 6 inch 80 watt to 8 inch 150 watt.
Pricing starts around $500/pair for retail but the net market shows around $200 /pair for in cieling directional 6" with 100 125 watt sound.
Please e-mail me at john at corecomps dot com with any more information you find out.
Justyn, ideally your front speakers should be roughly even with your TV screen depth. As for your center channel, it should be as close to ear height as possible.
Technically, your surround speakers should be on the 'sides' roughly even with your primary seating positions. Putting them in the back will work if thats the way you want it, and providing you never intend to upgrade to 7.1.
If you put the ceiling mounted speakers in the back, they should be roughly the same width as your front speakers. Most ceiling mounts are adjustable so you can easily aim the speakers towards your primary seating.
The 'in-wall' speakers are fine for background music, but I wouldnt recommend them for a HIFI home theater setup.